


Helping Hand

by CerealWithoutMilk



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:28:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29777547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CerealWithoutMilk/pseuds/CerealWithoutMilk
Summary: Grian severely injures his hand whilst building but everyone is busy so he decides to ignore it - eventually the Hermits hang out and a prank on Grian goes extremely wrong.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 91





	Helping Hand

“And there! Finished!”  
Grian stepped back, admiring his latest build. He had just finished some of the detailing on the left side of his mansion, and he could now pack up for the day. Turning around, he picked up some of the discarded materials he had dropped all over the floor, and placed them inside the nearest shulker box - he could deal with the mess later. Grian looked back up towards his mansion, scanning it one more time just to make sure he had covered every possible spot. “Dang it! I missed a slab!” Reopening the shulker box nearest him, he pulled out the materials he needed and equipped his elytra. He took off towards the location of the missing block, and landed on the edge of one of the many windowsills. 

And then he was falling.

He wasn’t quite sure how it happened - maybe he had stumbled over a stone, or maybe he had tripped over his own foot. Grian did know that he was falling though, and that if he didn’t do something soon then he would hit the floor and die a painful death. He knew for a fact that the respawn wouldn't be fun. Fumbling in his inventory for his rockets, he pulled them out and tried desperately to ignite them. Eventually, he managed to light one, and he was propelled forwards into the air. However, he was unable to get the elytra under control; he veered sideways and smashed his right hand into the corner of his mansion as he flew by. Screaming out in pain, he crash landed not far from the entrance to his mansion and tucked himself into a ball. His hand felt like fire and his ribs ached, but there wasn’t much that he could do. Grian reached into his pocket to grab his communicator with his undamaged hand to ask for help, but after checking everyone’s status, decided against it. What was the point of disturbing his friends when they had much more important things to do. He had only hurt his hand, he could easily fix it himself.

An hour later, Grian had managed to walk inside the mansion and check his storage system for bandages. After finding an unused roll, he sat down onto his bed and went to care for his hand. He knew that he wasn’t the best at first aid on the server - Stress beat him at that by far - but he knew enough that he could bandage up his hand. Looking at the injured hand, he could see that it was definitely broken. The skin had gone red in some areas, with a large gash between his thumb and middle finger. There was a lot of blood dripping down his arm and onto the floor as well. He would have to clean that up sometime...  
“This should be easy, I’ve seen Stress do it many times. All I have to do is wrap this around there… tie this in a knot… tuck this here… and done!” Grian held his arm out to admire his handiwork. It was… okay. Deep down, he knew that eventually he’d have to ask another Hermit to take a look at his injury, but right now he didn’t want to bother them. They had their own things to do, so the last thing they needed to worry about was him. He would be just fine. Right?

\----------

It was almost a week later, and some of the hermits had decided to arrange a meetup. It was decided that they would meet somewhere in the shopping district, and they could then just catch up on what was going on in the server. Grian was excited to meet up with his friends, but worried. Since his accident, his hand hadn’t healed. In fact, it had done the opposite - he needed to change the bandage often as the cut reopened and bled so much, and his hand still felt extremely hot. He had also noticed in the mirror recently that he looked more tired and dishevelled as well, something the other Hermits might pick up on. He did not want to worry them though, this was a meet up for everyone to enjoy themselves, not to worry about him. Checking his communicator for the time, he realised he was late.

Hey Grian, you coming mate?  
I sure am! I will be there soon, I promise. Just lost track of time.  
Okay, hurry up though. Everyone is already here!  
On my way now.

Putting his communicator back into his pocket and checking himself once more in the mirror, Grian glanced down towards his arm. The bulky bandage was well hidden beneath the thick red wool of his sweater, but from some angles you could see the ends of the bandage. He made a mental note to keep his sleeve down, no matter what happens. Then he took off. He tucked his injured hand under his other arm just to make sure that it didn’t hurt whilst flying, and he quickly made his way over to the shopping district. From a distance, he could see the rest of the other Hermits already messing around - was that Cub chasing Scar? Clearing his thoughts, Grian prepared for landing.

It wasn’t as graceful as he’d hoped it would be - his feet hit the ground first, but before he could steady himself his whole body tumbled over onto a pile on the floor. Groaning, he weakly lifted his head and scanned around his surroundings, before letting it drop back onto the rough ground. His head pounded, and his throbbing wrist wasn’t helping much either. He was vaguely aware of someone calling his voice, but he couldn’t quite identify who.  
“Grian? Grian! Can you hear me?” The voice sounded panicked, and he could hear more footsteps headed his way.  
“Is he alright? That was quite the landing!”  
“Poor fella must have been in a rush.”  
“Is he awake?”

Reopening his eyes again, Grian looked at the circle of worried faces. He could make out the glowing blue eye of Iskall, Tango’s blonde hair and Mumbo’s mustache, but everything else was quite fuzzy. Another voice appeared behind him, asking for a health potion; that must have been Xisuma. Said potion was quickly pulled out of an ender chest and passed around the circle, before it arrived in front of him. He took it gratefully and drank it, already feeling better, but he couldn’t help but think that he had already ruined today: first he was late and now he had crash landed whilst everyone was having fun, causing them to have to stop. They really should not have worried about him. He would have been fine…

“Grian, are you okay now? That was quite the landing.” Scar’s worried voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see many relieved looking faces. He hated knowing that he had worried them.  
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I was flying a bit too fast, I think. Thank you for the help.” he managed to say - one by one the Hermits around him nodded, satisfied by his response, before going off to continue what they were previously doing. Finally, only Mumbo was left, kneeling by the now propped up man. 

“Are you sure you’re okay Grian? That did look quite painful.”  
“It was, I’ll admit, but I promise I’m fine now. Look!” Grian went to stand up, before landing back flat on his face - he had put too much pressure onto his injured hand. It stung like fire and he took a large intake of breath, hoping that Mumbo wouldn’t notice. He was sure that he did, but the taller Hermit didn’t show it - he simply held out his hand and helped Grian up off the floor, laughing to himself. Grian released a small, slightly forced chuckle, before going and joining in with the rest of the Hermits and their activities.

\----------

“No fair! You were cheating!” Stress shouted out as False defeated her in another PvP battle. She was the reigning champion, and no other hermit was yet to beat her.  
“I am undefeatable!”  
Grian sat to the side of the action, occasionally laughing at the odd joke or adding something onto conversations - he cradled his hand on his chest as it hurt so much, but other than that he tried to keep his posture normal. However many sleepless, pain filled nights were catching up to him, and he was struggling to keep his eyes open. Slowly, he closed them little by little, until he fell asleep, the conversation he was part of simply becoming background noise.  
“Aww look, Grian’s gone to sleep.” Stress suddenly said, interrupting Iskall as he talked about his plans for the Omega Tree. Many heads turned in Grian’s direction, to see him curled in a ball on his side, his messy long hair resting on his face.  
“He did take quite a fall earlier. I’ll ask him to stop by my base later for a checkup, just to see if he’s ok.” Xisuma suddenly spoke up, causing many heads to turn towards him. He had been rather quiet after the younger Hermit’s crash landing, and looking closely some might have noticed that he had been constantly watching the red sweatered Hermit a lot more than usual as well. 

“That’s good. Should we wake him?” Ren peered round at the rest of his fellow Hermits faces. “I do need to ask him about some materials.”  
“I guess we could. I mean, it would be nice to talk to the fella. Hardly seen him at all recently.” Cub nodded encouragingly towards Ren, seemingly urging him to do something to wake the now gently snoring Hermit. Realising that all the Hermits were now watching and waiting for some form of action to occur, Ren spun around and crouched down so that he was in level with Grian’s face. He paused for a second to take in the younger Hermit’s features: he had large bags under his eyes and Ren couldn't remember the last time he had a proper conversation with Grian. Wasn’t it when…

He was shaken from his thoughts by a loud ‘Ahem’ from behind. ‘Right, wake Grian,’ he thought. He reached forwards and grabbed a large cushion from an empty chair, then raised it high over his head, ready to force it down. Hesitating, he turned his head slightly to look at the crowd of excited Hermits behind him. Many of them were nodding in anticipation, however Xisuma and Mumbo looked slightly unsure. Despite this, the looks of confirmation outweighed the looks of uncertainty, so Ren spun round again to face Grian, a large grin on his face.

“3, 2 ,1… GO!”

He shouted loudly as he forced the cushion down onto Grian’s face, covering him. Most of the Hermits cheered loudly, unaware as the small body began to thrash about under Ren’s strong grip. Most were laughing, but Xisuma was not amused. Was Grian ok under there? The small Hermit began to violently claw at the cushion and Ren’s arm for freedom, releasing muffled screams, which no-one could hear. They all continued to laugh at their prank.

\----------

(Grian’s POV)  
I was laying there, peacefully dreaming - it was the first proper rest I’d had in weeks, since the incident. The reassuring voices of my friends talking had calmed me, and I soon found myself drifting to sleep, not that I had a problem with it. However, I soon became aware of the lack of voices around me - maybe they’d all gone to sleep as well? Suddenly, I heard a loud shout from in front of me and I opened my eyes to be met with a large object falling towards my face. It was forced down and held in place by someone, and all I could see was darkness. 

I froze in shock as the air was knocked out of my lungs - I tried to breathe in but my mouth and nose were covered. I began to panic as my lungs began to burn.I began to desperately claw the arms of whoever was keeping me here. I tried to scream but it was muffled by the thick fabric. I needed to get free.. I needed help. I needed-

The cushion was pulled away and I took a deep breath of air, filling my lungs. My throat was burning and my face was red with tears. I kept gulping down air, now able to hear the laughter of those around me. Did they do this… on purpose? They must really hate me that much.

\----------

Ren finally lifted the cushion as Grian’s nails began digging in, leaving red marks down his arm. He turned to face the others, who were all bent over with laughter, oblivious to the distressed Hermit in front of them. It was only when Xisuma and Mumbo ran over to Grian, worry in their voices, and shock on their faces that the rest began to realise the seriousness of the situation. The small Hermit was curled in a ball, tears streaming down his face, wheezing loudly for air, and he flinched away when Mumbo tried to pull him in for a hug. He looked up at the group surrounding him, only settling his eyes on Ren when he saw the cushion still resting in his hands. His eyes widened in terror and he tucked himself into an even smaller ball, shielding his face with his hands.  
Ren, noticing his friend's sudden change in demeanor, stepped forwards and placed his hand onto Grian’s arm.  
“Hey dude, are you ok? I’m sorry, it was supposed to be a prank…”

“No.”

Ren’s ears perked up, startled by the unexpected noise. It wasn’t a loud shout, just barely a whisper from Grian’s shaky voice.

“Grian? I-”

“No.”

Grian looked up from where he was currently huddled and stared Ren right in the eyes. They were bloodshot and tears were still dripping out of them. He started to speak, his voice low and barely above a mumble.

“You did that on purpose. Why did you do that? Did you think... no. No. You must really hate me. Don’t worry. Don’t even bother apologising. I’ll… go. I’ll go now.” With that, he turned around and equipped his elytra, ready to fly away. It was only when Mumbo reached out quickly and grabbed his injured hand to stop him that he fell to the ground in a crumpled heap and released a loud, pain filled scream. Mumbo jumped back in shock, surprised at Grian’s unexpected reaction, before kneeling down beside him.

“Grian… are you ok? I didn’t mean to hurt you, can I check?” Grian sniffled and looked straight into Mumbo’s eyes, and Mumbo could see that they were full of confusion and betrayal. He received no response, so he carefully reached forwards and liften Grian’s delicate arm into his lap. The man in question released a small whimper and buried his head into his free arm. A hand appeared beside the mustached man’s head, holding a potion of healing - he assumed it was X. There was the sound of hushed whispering behind him, then chests opening, and then finally the crackle of rockets as many people flew up into the night sky above. Xisuma crouched down beside him, giving Grian an uneasy look, before beginning to check his hand. He unravelled the bandage, and revealed what seemed an ocean of crimson blood. Although Xisuma appeared unbothered by this sight, setting right to work caring for the still sobbing man, Mumbo felt like throwing up. How long had Grian been like this? Why had he told no-one? What did he mean when he said you must really hate me? 

The suited man stumbled backwards, a sickening feeling in his throat. He wanted to cough. He wanted to cry. He wanted to- 

A metallic arm landed on his shoulder, causing Mumbo to jump in fright and spin around. He was met by a sympathetic looking Doc, with an extremely distraught Ren not far behind him.  
“Xisuma told the rest to go home and get some sleep. He said he’d talk about the situation in the morning. Ren however refused to leave. I’m just here to try to help move the poor dude.” Mumbo nodded slightly, still shaken by the sight that was Grian’s hand. He sat down in a daze, still astonished at the events of today. His brain was yet to comprehend the action. He stayed there for what seemed like hours. He was vaguely aware of Doc finally convincing Ren to leave, the sound of their elytras gliding away becoming more distant. He recalled seeing a chicken walk past , but it did nothing to calm his worries. It just made him think of all those times when Grian the man in the chicken costume had egged his base back in season six.

It was only when Xisuma finally tapped him on the back, informing him that he was going to return Grian to his mansion that Mumbo was finally aware how long it had been. The stars were starting to hide away, replaced by the streaks of daylight peaking over the trees. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the hunched over figure of X, probably typing something on his communicator, and the silhouette of Grian who was (he hoped) sleeping. Then they flickered, and slowly dissolved into code. That was normal, Xisuma was known to teleport if something was wrong or if he needed to get somewhere quick, although it was not fun watching his friends simply melt away. With that, Mumbo rose from the ground and grasped a stack of rockets that was conveniently placed in his inventory. He stumbled before pulling the fuse and propelling himself forwards into the cloudless sky. He needed to sleep.

\----------

It was a week later. The server had been quiet, no-one interacting with each other. When meeting in the shopping district, only nods and whispered greetings would be exchanged, before the world was plunged back into silence. The chat had been completely empty, aside from a death message from when Scar crashed into a jungle tree. No one had seen Grian, minus Xisuma and Mumbo. X had been keeping an eye on him, and Mumbo came to keep Grian company when X needed sleep. 

Since the incident, Ren hadn’t been acting himself. He felt so guilty. Was it his fault? He was the once who smothered Grian - it was a harmless joke, wasn’t it? Other Hermits had noticed that the usually calm and cool man was beginning to sleep less, eat less, and generally just stayed tucked away in his base. Doc was one of these hermits. He cared for Ren, and hated to see his buddy like this. 

It was a rainy Wednesday when Doc finally decided to go check up on Ren. Landing gently, he went up to Ren’s door and tapped on it as softly as he could. He could hear sniffs from behind the door, but no reply came.  
“Ren dude? You alright? I haven’t seen you for a while. Can I come in?”  
There was no response, but then a faint shuffling could be heard. The half-creeper half-man waited patiently by the door, for some kind of confirmation that he could enter.  
“Uhh.. Yeah? I guess..” Ren’s wobbly voice was faint, but Doc managed to catch it. Knowing that he was allowed to enter, he reached for the door handle and pushed open the door.

His first impression of the room was that it was dark. There were faint outlines of chests and shulkers, but the palace was pretty messy. It also smelt. Bad. In the corner there was a silent sob, and Doc spun round to face the shadow of Ren, head in hands, sitting on the floor. He was leaning against a wall, so Doc cautiously shuffled forwards and carefully slid down until he too was seated next to the distraught man.

“It’s all my fault.” 

The larger man turned to face his friend.  
“What do you mean?”  
“It’s my fault Grian is so hurt. Why did I do that? I’m so stupid. He’ll never talk to me again!”  
“Ren listen, it’s not your fault. No-one knew Grian was injured, it was an accident.”  
“I still shouldn’t have suffocated him though! What kind of person does that?”  
Doc shuffled around uncomfortably until his whole body was facing Ren. Then, he rather awkwardly tried to place his hands on the others shoulders. The younger man lifted his head out of his hands and looked up at his friend. His eyes were bloodshot from days of crying and he had dark circles under his eyes.  
“Listen. I.. uh… Shoot. Sorry, I’m bad at this comforting business. All of us are to blame for that. We cheered you on, you just did the act. I’m sure Grian will forgive you. We all just need to apologise and never do this again. C’mon Ren, don’t worry.”

Ren looked back towards the ground and sniffed. Then he looked back up at Doc, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. There was a slight smile on his face.

“Thanks Doc.I know what to do. I… I’ll go apologise to Grian as soon as I see him.”  
Both men nodded at each other before realising the awkward position they were in. Doc stumbled backwards before regaining his posture, then he helped his buddy off the ground. They nodded at each other, before Doc left out the door. Soon, only the faint sound of rockets exploding could be heard. 

Ren knew what he had to do. 

\----------

The room was cold. He sat in the corner, shaking. Clutching his now bandaged hand (Xisuma had been persistent in changing it), he stood up and moved to the widow. There was a cobweb in the corner, a lone spider spinning some webs. The glass steamed up with each slow breath he took, but the outside world was still. He had been cooped up for days, and he wanted freedom. X had told him to stay put, but he just had to go. He needed to fly.

Grian had to get out.

He stumbled towards his mess of shulker boxes and opened the nearest one. Seeds, a stack of wool and some raw pork chops. Great. The next one was full of ice. Another had some string and twelve buttons. Where was his elyra? Grumbling under his breath, Grian finally opened the correct chest and found where Xisuma had hidden his wings. They were his life. Aside from building, Grian loved to fly. Just the thought of soaring through the sky had his heart thumping. Although since the incident X had simply forbidden him to fly. Something about ‘injuring himself further’ and ‘needing to rest.’ Obviously Grian had ignored him. Looking back towards the elytra, Grian took some time to admire them closely. He ran his injured hand along the surface; the texture was smooth and leathery. If you looked closely, you could see a faint purple shimmer, a telltale sign of all the enchantments that had been installed onto it. Strapping it to his back, he launched himself into the air. He didn’t know where he was going, he just had to get some fresh air.

He flew straight for at least 10 minutes, just enjoying the familiar feeling of flying, the wind combing through his hair. It felt relaxing. Although he was getting dangerously low on rockets. Maybe it was worth stopping at the shopping district to top up? Although Grian wasn’t too keen on bumping into the other hermits currently. It wasn’t that he hated them, he was just still a bit shaken and he needed a bit more time to recover. That was all. Despite this, Grian decided that maybe it was best to go and get some rockets. It would mean that he got to stay away from his base a bit longer, and there could be a chance that no hermits were about. The communicators had been rather quiet lately. 

Circling back toward the shopping district, he poinpointed where he was aiming to touch down. Determined to land properly since his last failed attempt, Grian took a deep breath and angled his wings so that he was gliding slowly towards the ground. He used the road leading up to the mayor’s office as a makeshift runway, hoping that the flat surface would make things a little easier. As he was about to get dangerously close to the floor, he flipped over so that instead of heading headfirst, his feet were pointing at the cobblestone below. Then, when his left foot made contact, he tried to balance himself out, bending his knees. This tactic did not work though. Again, he ended up tumbling over into a heap on the ground, his limbs all tangled. Groaning, he tried to prop himself up with his hands. Putting all his weight onto his injured hand. Grian yelped and fell flat on his face again.

The crackled of rockets and the sudden rush of wind alerted him to someone landing behind him.

“Grian. Are.. are you alright?”

It was Ren. 

\----------

He wasn’t prepared. He’d just been going to restock Bigger Logz Inc. when he’d noticed a red heap on the ground. Naturally Ren was going to investigate, it could have been anything! Although when he got closer his heart almost stopped. It was Grian. He’d seen his red jumper from the sky. He had to help his friend off the floor, it was the polite thing to do, but he wasn’t ready to talk to Grian just yet. He hadn’t planned how he was going to apologise! What was he meant to do?

The hermit in question turned his head and they made eye contact. Grian was obviously as nervous as Ren, his breathing was rapid and he was trembling slightly. They stayed staring at each other for a while before Ren finally made the first move. He took a step towards Grian, outstretching his arm to help him off the floor. Grian shuffled backwards, suddenly avoiding eye contact. This action hurt Ren, who immediately tucked his hands into his pockets and looked fixedly at the floor. 

“Uh, hi Ren! Sorry, I just came for some rockets. I’ll uh.. Be gone soon. You go do whatever you were planning to do.” Grian stood up, albeit very wobbly, and went to walk away.

“Wait Grian!”

The red-sweatered hermit slowly spun around, before lifting his gaze back to Ren. Ren looked like a deer in headlights, he was trembling and looked on the verge of tears.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you! I know you must hate me now, you probably hated me before anyways, I just wanted you to know that I didn’t mean you any harm! Grian, I-”

He was cut off by Grian wrapping his arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug. 

“Ren, stop. I know you didn’t mean to hurt me, it was just a badly thought out prank. It’s ok, I forgive you.”

Ren was speechless. Here he was, a blubbering mess when the person who should be hurt was comforting him instead.

“You… don’t hate me?”

“No! I thought you all hated me!”

“Is.. is that why you told no-one about your hand, Grian?”

There was an awkward silence between them. Grian released Ren from the hug and took a step back. 

“Yes. I should have told you. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologise. Just remember that we all love you here Grian. No one hates you.”

“I.. Thanks Ren. Just maybe don’t smother me with pillows again.” He let out a chuckle, rubbing his undamaged hand behind his neck.

“Oh, of course. I’ll never do anything like that again, I swear!” He threw his hands up in defense, before noticing something. 

“Hey Grian, how is your hand anyways? From how Mumbo reacted last week I assumed you’d lost the whole thing or something!” He gestured about, before a worried look crossed his face. “You haven’t lost it, have you?”

Grian laughed. “No, it’s fine now. Xisuma took good care of it. Just needs to be in a bandage for a while. I do need to thank him - also I should maybe check on Mumbo. He did seem a bit pale when I last saw him. It is a pain though. I can hardly do anything anymore!”

Ren smiled. This was his chance to properly make it up to Grian.

“Mind if I lend a helping hand?”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, another story about Grian! I promise I do have plans for other characters! ;)  
> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> (Also I am not a medical expert. I'm not sure if those injuries were correct but oh well.)


End file.
